Some of you will know that on a Thursday afternoon I help in my sons’ school.
A major reason Matt and I set up RISE was for flexibility.
It enables me to work long days on Monday and Tuesday, normal hours on Wednesday and Friday and just couple of hours on Thursday.
Works great and I wouldn’t be able to see my kids anywhere near as much with a normal 9-5.
I was helping in Jamie, my 5 year old’s, P.E. class last week.
At the end, the teacher asked me to pick who got house points from the group I’d been working with.
I chose two of the others as they had started the session day-dreaming and not paying attention……..
But, after a chat with them, they’d bucked their ideas up and done much better.
Jamie then bursts out crying in front of the whole class.
Turns out he’d been trying his hardest to impress me and was hoping for the house point.
He’d got by far the highest score in the game we’d been playing and assumed it was his.
So, I had a little chat with him.
And explained my choice.
The thing with Jamie is he’s really good at P.E.
Without wanting sound like a boastful Dad, he’s always the best in that group.
Always has been very physically adept, since a young age.
Just one of those things – his older brother is doing fine, but has never been a standout in physical stuff, shall we say?
So, for him, to get the top score was great.
But nothing particularly unusual.
For those two to pay attention was a great effort.
Which I thought deserved rewarding.
And encouraging.
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It’s the same with the journeys we are all on.
The mistake many FitPros make is only celebrating the ‘best’ results they get.
The members that end up being the fastest, strongest, most toned, etc.
And, while they should be celebrated, it’s always important to recognise and celebrate the efforts everyone, relative to what they find easy or not.
Someone who’s always worked out and loved it getting a new PB on a lift is brilliant.
But so is someone who’s always hated exercise and found healthy eating really hard, making lasting changes to their eating, attending sessions regularly and dropping some weight.
It’s not ‘medals for everyone’.
It’s not celebrating just being there.
It’s realising when people have made forward progress.
When they have improved in some way.
And helping people realise that themselves.
It’s easy to get dispirited when you see others who can do much more than you.
If Jamie got the house points every week because he’d got the best score, time, etc then that wouldn’t be great for the others, would it?
Recognising your own improvement and forward progression is key.
In a better place than you were a year ago?
Brilliant – keep it up and see where you are in another year or two.
It’s a never ending journey, remember?
In a worse place than a year ago?
You might want to click this link to find out more about what we do –> myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting
Much love,
Jon ‘Cry baby’ Hall and Matt ‘Cry me a river’ Nicholson
